Academic debate around the need for global cooperation, the anachronism of national borders, and the necessity of nurturing a cosmopolitan ethic of care for all, has strengthened over the last two decades, but it is unclear the extent to which the general population has embraced such ideas. This article explores Australians’ perspectives using data from a series of projects investigating whether Australians are moving beyond national to postnational orientations and cosmopolitan identifications. Quantitative data demonstrates robust nationalism, although elements of a postnational outlook are also evident. Discursive analyses similarly suggest that while compassion towards others and openness to difference do exist, the ideology of the nation-state remains strong, with postnational formations seen as impractical, and perceptions of the rights of others limited by nationalist thinking. The best characterisation of the Australian orientation is that of multicultural nationalism, an approach that celebrates internal diversity within limits, but remains hostile to postnational material formations and global cosmopolitan ideological formations.

在过去的二十年中，围绕全球合作的必要性，国界的过时以及培养全民照料的国际伦理的学术辩论已经加强，但尚不清楚普通民众在多大程度上接受了这种合作想法。本文使用一系列项目的数据来探讨澳大利亚人的观点，这些数据调查了澳大利亚人是否正在从本国转向后本国取向和国际化认同。定量数据显示出强大的民族主义，尽管后民族观点的要素也很明显。话语分析同样表明，尽管确实存在着对他人的同情心和对差异的开放态度，但民族国家的意识形态仍然很强，后民族的形成被认为是不切实际的，和对他人权利的看法受到民族主义思想的限制。澳大利亚取向的最好特征是多元文化民族主义，这种方法在有限的范围内颂扬内部多样性，但仍然反对后国家的物质形态和全球性的国际意识形态形态。